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I
DEFINITION OF GOTHIC
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of buildings in which the successive improvements on this mode of buttressing were made cannot be traced. But an illustration of the next step is afforded by the Abbaye-aux-Dames (Fig. 8), which seems to have been vaulted somewhat later than the Abbaye-aux-Hommes. [1] In this case, instead of
FIG. 7.
a continuous arch, or demi-vault, springing from the aisle wall, separate arches were established, springing from the aisle walls opposite the piers, and abutting against the piers only, where the thrusts of the vaults were gathered. But these arches still fell too low to be wholly effectual, and as the precaution was not taken to reinforce the buttresses of the aisle walls the supports have yielded, and the original
- ↑ See L'Eglise Ste Trinité et l'Eglise Ste Étienne à Caen. Par V. Ruprich. Robert. Caen, 1864.
